Government Waste in Higher Education: Morgan State Cited

When Pork Is Passed Around, Pigs Will Be Pigs

This is a difficult column to post particularly originating from the upper Chesapeake region. Morgan State University has a long proud history as one of the nation’s top schools serving the African American student, how sad it is that the GAO reports Morgan State along with three other minority-related schools are charged with the misuse of Federal funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Of $105,000 spent by Morgan State, $80,000 was spent on a leadership program that consisted largely of resort and amusement park visits. $6,000 was spent on office furniture and $4,578 on an aircraft GPS system though the school does not own an aircraft.

These findings are presented by The Chronicle of Higher Education citing a GAO report, “Low-Income and Minority Serving Institutions: Sustained Attention Needed to Improve Education’s Oversight of Grant Programs.”

The report goes on to criticize the Dept. of Education for not following up on several recommendations over the past six years designed to better track federal grants awarded to these special need schools.

Among other findings, Wiley College in Texas was cited for spending $2127 on late feels; Riverside Community College in California spent $4,800 on t-shirts; additionally, the University of the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico spent $27, 530 for contract services and subscriptions that would not be utilized until after the grant expired.

The GAO report indicated Morgan State misused almost one fourth of the $427,180 in Federal Grants received in 2006 during a time the Department did not even have an Assistant Secretary for Post Secondary in charge of that office within the Education Department.

Morgan officials suggest that the leadership expenditures were akin to an “outward bound” type of program including white-water rafting and rock climbing designed to develop leadership and decision-making skills.

We recognize in terms overall wasted money in the Federal government, we’re talking bout chump change here. Most of this points to previous administrations, but huge problems are built one piece at a time. Surely, in an area of need as significant as helping students of limited means get a leg up, we must scream foul when expenditures aren’t reaching the educational purpose for which they were intended. When pigs supply the pork, this is what happens.